US, India to expand cooperation on advanced weaponry, supercomputing, semiconductors

• Published date: 03 February 2023
• Publication title: Central Asian News Services

The United States and Indian officials on Tuesday agreed to expand cooperation on advanced weaponry, supercomputing, semiconductors and other high-tech fields. This comes as the Biden administration looks towards strengthening its ties with its Asian allies to offset China's dominance of cutting-edge technologies, the New York Times reported.

The agreements were arrived at after two days of high-level meetings in Washington, between government officials and executives from various companies. The agreements are first under a new dialogue about initiative on critical and emerging technologies (iCET) that President Biden and India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, announced in Tokyo in May.

On Monday, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, met with more than 40 company executives, university presidents and others, including executives from Lockheed Martin, Tata, Adani Defence and Aerospace, and Micron Technology.

Jake Sullivan on Tuesday said that the goal was for technological partnerships to be 'the next big milestone' in the U.S.-Indian relationship after a 2016 agreement on nuclear power cooperation. He described the effort as a 'big foundational piece of an overall strategy to put the entire democratic world in the Indo-Pacific in a position of strength.'

Sullivan said that the agreements will test whether the Biden administration can realize its proposal for 'friend-shoring' by shifting the manufacturing of certain critical components to friendly countries.

Biden officials have expressed concerns about the United States' continued reliance on China for semiconductors, telecommunications parts and other important goods. Many companies have found it...